Beauty from Ashes

Brent and his mom leave tomorrow morning to go get Aeson.  They're expected at the orphanage Monday morning.  In a little more than 48 hours the boy who has been an orphan for twelve years will walk out of that institution for the last time and into the arms of a family.

How is that we have had almost a year to prepare ourselves for this and yet I still feel like there are a million things left undone?

Are we ready for this?

Is he ready for this?

I've spent a lot of time in the past few weeks talking to other adoptive parents in order to try and prepare myself a little better for Aeson's transition.  It's those first few weeks home I fear the most.  A lot of people have asked what they can do, how they can help.  Honestly, right now I don't know.  I have no idea how it is going to go.  We'll take it one day at a time.

For now, please keep us all in your thoughts and prayers.

Pray for Brent and his mom to have safe travels.  I won't lie; I am not sad to be missing that 30-hour trip.

Pray for the girls.  This is going to change their lives and while it will do so for the better, I know at times it won't feel that way.

Pray that Brent and I will handle what is thrown at us to the best of our abilities.  Stress has a wonderful way of bringing out the worst in people sometimes.  I hope we can remember that we're in this mess together and to laugh along the way, even if only because otherwise we'd cry.

Finally, pray for Aeson.  This is an unbelievably difficult thing we are asking him do.  I hope somehow he knows that, despite all he's leaving behind, there are so many amazingly beautiful things ahead.

"A child born to another woman calls me mom.  The depth of the tragedy and the magnitude of the privilege are not lost on me." ~Jody Landers